Commercialisation of fuel cell buses moves one step closer with the launch of the JIVE 2 project

The fuel cell bus sector in Europe has received a tremendous boost with the launch of the JIVE 2 project (Second Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe) on 25th January.

Coordinated by Element Energy, and supported by a €25m grant from the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU), the JIVE 2 project will deploy 152 fuel cell electric buses across 14 European cities throughout France, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. This will expand the network of cities trialling fuel cell buses in Europe, demonstrating a growing appetite for the technology.

The collaborative project is an expansion of the JIVE initiative which is now entering its second year of activity. Combined, the JIVE projects will deploy nearly 300 fuel cell buses in 22 cities across Europe by the early 2020s – the largest deployment in Europe to date.

Stricter air quality regulations being introduced by some cities and municipalities will see current diesel buses banned from many city centres over the next few years. Fuel cell electric buses represent a viable alternative for public transport authorities, offering the same operational flexibility as diesel buses but without the harmful tailpipe emissions. By the end of the project, JIVE 2 aims to prove the operational capacity of fuel cell buses and to lay the foundations for uptake on a large scale.

The increased scale of deployment through the JIVE initiatives creates the conditions for accelerated development of European bus manufacturers’ production capabilities by the early 2020s. This will enable them to achieve the economies of scale needed for mass roll out of fuel cell buses, positioning this technology to become a key zero emission public transport alternative in the coming years.